THIS WEEK IN THE XENA NEWS....


TWXN #04


06/02/96








Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR)





XMR is a periodic annotated review of mainstream media reports


found in electronic form regarding the syndicated television show


Xena: Warrior Princess (1995 - ) and the castmembers, Lucy


Lawless and Renee O'Connor.  For a free e-mail subscription send


"subscribe XMR" to ktaborn@bak2.lightspeed.net. Excerpts from the


following cites will appear in future issues of XMR.








VARIETY. 05-27-96. Pg. 43. "Foreign buyers sneak a peek at fall


offerings" by Elizabeth Guider


   COMMENTARY: In an article about the "L.A. Screening", where


foreign tv buyers get their first chance to see what the US is


peddling, MCA's president of worldwide distribution, James


McNamara states that he anticipates Hercules and Xena to be big


sale items.








THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT (Norfolk, VA). 05-27-96. Pg. E1. "TV's Tops


and Flops from a Towering Adaption of "Gulliver's Travels" to


Fox's; Abrupt "Profit" Loss, Here's Television Critic Larry


Bonko's Look at the Best; and Worst of the 1995-96 Prime-time


Season." By Larry Bonko.


   COMMENTARY: In his summation of the best and worst of the


season, Larry Bonko cites Xena as "Worst impression of Wonder


Woman".








ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION. 05-28-96. Features. 748 words.


"Channel Surfer; AMC Offers Peculiar Perspective on Brando" By


Bob Longino


   COMMENTARY: Reprint of XMR277a (THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL


(Memphis). Appeal. Pg. 3C. 485 words. "'Nick News' teaches body


acceptance" By Joanne Weintraub)








LA WEEKLY. 05-31-96. Vol.18 No.27. Pg. 41. "Atlas, Shrugged;


Xena, Hercules, Barbie and Ken" By Arion Berger.


   COMMENTARY:  A negative review of XWP presented in a


commentary on our disintegrating popular culture.  The reviewer


offers HTLJ though with an apology, asking us to forgive it's


"faults".  The reviewer also makes enough many factual errors


that a knowledgeable reader would be inclined to think that the


reviewer only saw a single show, if not portions.


   The published criticism of XWP tends to be of three camps:


that it is excessively violent;  that it is based upon "stupid


history"; or that it is a form of Baywatch, i.e, a sexually


exploitative show.


   The violence spin was heard primarily in connection with the


introduction of the V-Chip and the voluntary ratings that


television producers will be expected to offer. XWP was the


posterchild of many articles which asked, 'Would it block out


Xena?' 'How would a show like Xena be rated?'. Thus far this


school of thought has not discussed the Hong Kong/Kung Fu film


antecedents of XWP and HTLJ (actually moreso with XWP than HTLJ),


nor have they adequately discussed the relative lack of graphic


violence in the shows in regard to their violence agruments.   


The stupid history camp bemoaned that XWP and HTLC were not


chronologically or traditionally correct. This party was


eloquently expressed in the notorius NPR "all Things Considered"


discussion on 04/23/96 (tentative XMR248).  Their arguments


include concern that younger children will not get the show and


always show alarm that they do not see on the screen what they


read in their dog-eared copies of Edith Hamilton or Robert Graves


mythology books.


   The Baywatch crowd deem both shows degrading to humankind and


beneath the dignity of any good upstanding citizen. Basically all


they see is a woman barely in leather riding around beating up


men.  That she only travels with a young woman is merely icing on


the cake.


   The author of tentative XMR280 has achieved what was no doubt


inevitable.  He has fused all the camps into a new hybrid. XWP


and HTLJ are an ugly but completely understandable result of this


culture. Because these shows jump out of our society's head, they


cannot be expected but to use stupid history, be violent, and to


be a Baywatch clone.  He takes the previous negative criticisms


and creates almost a Unified Field Theory of why XWP is not


nutrious.  His arguments, though, would have been better served


had he actually paid attention to the show and had taken on the


preceding artistic traditions of which XWP and HTLJ sprang from.  








THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 05-31-96. "Trek' at warp speed; 'Xena'


pins 'Hercules'" By Jonathan Davies


   COMMENTARY:  Ratings for "Callisto". XWP earned a 5.1 and was


rated 2nd action hour.  HTLJ was 3rd, and ST:DS9 was 1st.








Pro0602